Chapter Twenty Three

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. I opened my eyes and saw the little boy lying on the bed beside me. He was awake and staring at me, so I got up and offered him some water.

"Hey... Where are you going?" he asked as I stood up.

"I'm gonna take a shower," I said. "Will you come with me?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you know, to wash your hair."

"Oh... Okay, I guess I will."

"Great!" I grinned happily. "I'll go get some shampoo, so wait here."

When I got back to the bedroom with the bottles of shampoo, the little boy was gone. I looked around the room, wondering where he had disappeared to, but there wasn't anyone else there.

I heard a noise coming from outside, so I peeked out of the window. It was raining heavily, and there was lightning in the sky. Hmm, looks like it's really bad out there... Maybe he's waiting for me under the porch roof...

I took the raincoat hanging on the wall and put it on. I then opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. There, I saw the kid sitting on a ben